Method and system for autonomous tracking of a following vehicle in the lane of a leading vehicle

• US 9,189,961 B2
• Filed: 05/06/2013
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Continental Teves AG & Co. OHG (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Mehr, Wilfried, Sthlin, Ulrich, Lke, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kim T
• Application Number:
  US14/400,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20150127189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 925 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/29.6, 701/93, 701/96, 701/116, 701/300
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/65 Data transmitted between vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/165 Automatically following the path of a preceding lead vehicle, e.g. "electronic tow-bar"
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0293 Convoy travelling
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0295 by at least one leading vehicle of the fleet
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/22 Platooning, i.e. convoy of communicating vehicles

Abstract

A method and system for autonomous tracking of a following vehicle on the track of a leading vehicle. A lead message is received by the following vehicle and rejected by the following vehicle or confirmed with a follow message. After receipt of the follow message, a first element of coordination information for coordination of the autonomous tracking is sent to the following vehicle by the leading vehicle. A second element of coordination information is detected for coordination of the autonomous tracking by environment sensors of the following vehicle on the basis of movements of the leading vehicle. The first and second elements of coordination information are compared by the following vehicle. In the case of a matching comparison result, the autonomous tracking is performed corresponding to the first and second elements of coordination information and, in the case of a deviating comparison result, the autonomous tracking is ended.

Claims

1. A method for autonomously tracking a following vehicle in a lane of a leading vehicle,

in which the leading vehicle is controlled by a driver,

wherein the leading vehicle uses vehicle-to-X communication to send a lead message that signals readiness for autonomous tracking of following vehicles and comprises at least one piece of vehicle identification information and a piece of route information for the leading vehicle,

wherein the lead message is received by the following vehicle by vehicle-to-X communication and is rejected by said following vehicle or confirmed with a follow message that comprises at least one piece of vehicle identification information for the following vehicle, and

wherein the leading vehicle, having received the follow message, uses vehicle-to-X communication to send first pieces of coordination information for coordinating the autonomous tracking to the following vehicle until the autonomous tracking ends, wherein

second pieces of coordination information for coordinating the autonomous tracking are captured by ambient sensors of the following vehicle on the basis of driving movements by the leading vehicle,

wherein the first and second pieces of coordination information are compared by the following vehicle to generate a comparison result,

wherein if there is a match in the comparison result then the autonomous tracking corresponding to the first and second pieces of coordination information is carried out and

wherein if there is a discrepancy in the comparison result then the autonomous tracking is terminated.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle-to-X communication between the leading vehicle and the following vehicle during the autonomous tracking takes place in redundant form using at least two different communication means.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the ambient sensors of the following vehicle are used to capture third pieces of coordination information on the basis of traffic indicators and/or fourth pieces of coordination information on the basis of digital map material,

wherein the third and/or fourth pieces of coordination information are compared with the first and second pieces of coordination information to generate a second comparison result,

wherein if there is a match in the second comparison result then the autonomous tracking corresponding to the first and second and third and/or fourth pieces of coordination information is carried out and

wherein if there is a discrepancy in the second comparison result then the autonomous tracking is terminated.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the autonomous tracking comprises autonomous longitudinal regulation and autonomous transverse regulation of the following vehicle on the basis of the match in the comparison result for the first and second and third and fourth pieces of coordination information.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first pieces of coordination information comprise absolute position information and absolute speed information and absolute steering angle information and absolute orientation information for the leading vehicle and the second pieces of coordination information comprise relative position information and relative speed information and relative orientation information for the leading vehicle in relation to the following vehicle.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein more than just a single following vehicle is autonomously tracked, wherein, in the case of autonomous tracking of more than just one following vehicle, the second pieces of coordination information are captured by means of the ambient sensors of a respective following vehicle on the basis of a driving movement by a vehicle traveling ahead of the respective following vehicle.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a driver of the following vehicle is asked to make a manual input during the autonomous tracking of the following vehicle, with the autonomous tracking being terminated if the manual input is not made.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a period of time for the autonomous tracking is limited to a prescribed proportion of a prescribed interval of time, particularly to 50 minutes per hour.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the following vehicle uses seat occupancy recognition to monitor whether the driver is in the driver'"'"'s seat, with the autonomous tracking being terminated if the driver is not in the driver'"'"'s seat.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sent piece of vehicle identification information from the following vehicle is used to produce a piece of remuneration information that is specific to the following vehicle and that is dependent on distance and/or time.

11. A system for autonomously tracking a following vehicle in a lane of a leading vehicle, for carrying out the method as claimed in claim 1,

comprising at least one leading vehicle controlled by a driver, a following vehicle, vehicle-to-X communication means in the leading vehicle and in the following vehicle for sending and receiving messages and information, driving movement sensors in the leading vehicle for providing first pieces of coordination information, coordination information comparison means in the following vehicle for comparing different pieces of coordination information and also ambient sensors in the following vehicle and/or a map memory, containing a digital map, in the following vehicle,

wherein the leading vehicle sends a lead message that signals a readiness for autonomous tracking of following vehicles and comprises at least one piece of vehicle identification information and a piece of route information for the leading vehicle,

wherein the following vehicle receives the lead message and rejects it or confirms it with a follow message that comprises at least one piece of vehicle identification information for the following vehicle, and

wherein the leading vehicle, having received the follow message, sends a first piece of coordination information for coordinating the autonomous tracking to the following vehicle until the autonomous tracking ends, wherein the ambient sensors of the following vehicle capture second pieces of coordination information for coordinating the autonomous tracking on the basis of driving movements by the leading vehicle,

wherein the coordination information comparison means compare the first and second pieces of coordination information to generate a comparison result,

wherein the following vehicle carries out the autonomous tracking corresponding to the first and second pieces of coordination information if there is a match in the comparison result and

wherein the following vehicle terminates the autonomous tracking if there is a discrepancy in the comparison result.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the ambient sensors are selected from the group consisting of:

a radar sensor,

an optical camera sensor,

a lidar sensor,

a laser sensor and

an ultrasonic sensor and

the vehicle-to-X communication means sends and/or receives messages and/or information on the basis of one or more connection classes selected from the group consisting of

WLAN connection, particularly based on IEEE 802.11,

ISM (Industrial, Scientific, Medical Band) connection,

Bluetooth®

connection,

ZigBee connection,

UWB (ultrawide band) connection,

WiMax®

(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) connection,

infrared connection,

mobile radio connection and

radar-based communication.